Gulf Stream Mean and Eddy Kinetic Energy: Three‐Dimensional Estimates From Underwater Glider Observations
Abstract
The strong, meandering, and eddy‐shedding Gulf Stream is a large oceanic reservoir of both mean and eddy kinetic energy in the northwestern Atlantic. Since 2015, underwater gliders equipped with Doppler current profilers have collected over 20,000 absolute velocity profiles in and near the Gulf Stream along the US East Coast. Those observations are used to make three‐dimensional estimates of mean and eddy kinetic energy, substantially expanding the geographic coverage of prior estimates of subsurface kinetic energy in the Gulf Stream. Glider observations are combined via weighted least squares fitting with anisotropic and inhomogeneous length scales to reflect both circulation and sampling density; this averaging technique can be applied to other quantities measured by the gliders. Mean and eddy kinetic energy decay approximately exponentially away from the surface. Vertical decay scales are longest within the high‐speed core of the Gulf Stream and somewhat shorter on the flanks of the Gulf Stream.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Mar 22, 2021
- Source ID
- 10.1029/2020gl090281
Entities
People
- Robert E. Todd
Organizations
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- National Science Foundation
- Office of Naval Research
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution